Hero Kids Creator's Guild

For years, the world of Hero Kids has been hidden from view. But now, a new way has been found, and a new guild has formed to explore the Brecken Vale and beyond.

The Hero Kids Creator's Guild opens the way for game masters to find new stories to tell, for venturers from distant lands to find tomes in their native tongues, and for young explorers to find new heroes and companions to journey with.

As you set off on your journey, know that I’m always here to answer your call: justinhalliday@gmail.com

What's In the Hero Kids Creator's Guild?

Hero Kids is the premier role-playing game for kids. Since its release, Hero Kids has enthralled kids' attention and unleashed their imaginations in a world full of adventure.

The Hero Kids Creator's Guild is home to community created adventures, translations, monsters, equipment, heroes, pets, and expansions.

For game designers, translators, and enthusiasts, the Creator's Guild is a place for you to contribute to the Hero Kids universe. Here, you can build on existing Hero Kids materials or create something new. Once when you're release, you can publish and sell your work for the growing community of Hero Kids fans.

How can I publish content for the Hero Kids Creator's Guild?

First, welcome to the guild! You’ve taken your first step to becoming a guild master.

Your next step is to read the Creator's Guild Content Guidelines.

The next step is to download the included templates, translatable documents, artwork, and other assets. These assets are provided for you to:

After creating your content, go to your account page and look in the "My Content" section. You can use the "Add a new title" link after you agree to the Community Content Agreement.

Once content is published, it's listed in the Hero Kids Creator's Guild. You'll be able to check your sales history, view reviews, and check on book royalties using your Account page on DriveThruRPG. The My Money section of your Account page will allow you to withdraw royalties via PayPal.

Content Guidelines

What is the Hero Kids Creator’s Guild?

The Hero Kids Creator’s Guild is a DriveThruRPG-powered platform for community members to create, publish, and distribute Hero Kids content. Here, community members like you can publish and sell new adventures, expansions, heroes, pets, and translations of existing Hero Kids products.

When you create and publish your work on DriveThruRPG, it becomes part of the Hero Kids Creator’s Guild. Other creators can build on your work, and you can build on theirs.

Hero Forge Games has made available templates for new adventures, existing product files to undertake translations, and artwork to incorporate into your own creations.

What materials can I use in my titles for the Hero Kids Creator’s Guild?

Your Hero Kids Creator’s Guild work can use any rules and setting materials from Hero Kids products published by Hero Forge Games.

Only Hero Forge Games assets available through the Hero Kids Creator’s Guild can be used to create your products.

You are free to commission art for use within your products. If you do this, it’s your responsibility to ensure that you have all the rights you need to publish that artwork on the Hero Kids Creator’s Guild.

The Hero Kids Creator’s Guild is a community resource. This means that you’re also welcome to expand on and adapt work that other authors have created here. You can write a sequel, prequel, or sidestory to adventures published by Hero Forge Games or other Hero Kids Creator’s Guild members. You can incorporate characters, places, or monsters published by other creators and reference them in your adventures.

If you want to directly include content created by other community members into your products, such as equipment or monsters, then get the agreement of that creator first.

Remember that the Hero Kids Creator’s Guild is a community, so always appropriately credit the original work that you’re building on.

What can’t I use in my Hero Kids Creator’s Guild products?

First, you cannot use Hero Forge Games intellectual property that hasn’t been made available through the Hero Kids Creator’s Guild. If there’s something you would like to use, get in touch.

Second, products published in the Hero Kids Creator’s Guild cannot use the intellectual property of third-party organisations (i.e. not you or Hero Forge Games) without permission from the owners of the IP and specific permission from Hero Forge Games.

How can I use Hero Kids art?

Hero Forge Games has released a selection of art, assets, and templates for you to use to create your products for the Hero Kids Creator’s Guild. These assets and art are licensed for use in content submitted to our community content program. You can only use the materials in products you publish in the Hero Kids Creator’s Guild.

Additionally, you cannot simply collate and republish materials supplied by Hero Forge Games or other community members.

When undertaking translations, first contact Hero Forge Games to coordinate with other translators and ensure you’re using the latest version of each product.

What types of content are prohibited?

Hero Kids is designed for a young audience, so the tone and content of your adventures needs to be appropriate for that audience.

Hero Kids adventures do not include horror, gore, gratuitous violence, bad language, or erotic themes. These should be avoided in content aimed at kids.

Do not publish anything racist, sexist, homophobic, defamatory, discriminatory, or otherwise repugnant; and avoid using depictions or descriptions of excessive violence against children, rape, torture, or similar perversions. Additionally, do not publish content that includes the use nicotine, addictive or harmful substances, or the excessive use of alcohol (though, some mead may be spilled).

Don’t copy or republish other creators’ work. We reserve the right to stop selling any product that goes against the spirit of the Hero Kids Creator’s Guild program.

How do I capture the tone of Hero Kids?

If you’re wondering about the tone of Hero Kids content, then these are good touchpoints:

D&D

How to Train Your Dragon

The Dragon Prince

Brave

The Ranger’s Apprentice

All of this is infuses a world steeped in Norse and pagan mythology.

In the world of Hero Kids - the Varld - the adults are largely absent. They are off fighting battles to protect their home or exploring distant lands. In their absence, the the defense of the Brecken Vale is left to those who remain below; farmers, elders, and our heroes, the kids.

And while adventures for adult audiences are careful to avoid obvious tropes, Hero Kids’ younger audience are not jaded, and readily enjoy the achievable challenge of clearing a basement overwhelmed by rodents of unusual size.

Can I sell the content I create?

Hero Kid Creator’s Guild publishers can sell their community content or release it for free.

If you are publishing a translation of an existing Hero Kids product, then it must be sold for the same price as the original product. For example, a French translation of the Hero Kids rules must be priced at $5.99.

Any retail sales are split between the creator (i.e. you), OneBookShelf (DriveThru's parent company), and Hero Forge Games. As creator, you get 50% of the sale. For example, if your product retails on the site for USD $10.00, this is how the split of revenue is made:

$5.00 to the creator (you)

$3.00 to DriveThruRPG

$2.00 to Hero Forge Games

The financial process is fully automated, requiring no additional administration from the creator. You can read DriveThruRPG’s notes about this at:

If you’re familiar with the DM’s Guild community content program for D&D, ours follows the same model in terms of revenue split and general rules.

Other than translations, you set the price from your products. When choosing the pricing model for your products, ensure it reflects the your effort and its value to the community. Hero Kids products are usually priced at a few tiers:

Feel free to reference the text of official Hero Forge Games products, but don’t copy text outright from those books. Your text should be original work.

Can I use characters and locations from Hero Kids in my Hero Kids Creator’s Guild products?

Yes, we’re more than happy for creators to use characters from Hero Kids in your stories, whether it’s Bree the firestarter, Mortain and his talkative crow, Saffie the fast-talking farmgirl, Roger the tavern-boy, Rothgar the lost king, the town Sheriff, or Grima the Apothecary.

However, events and situations from your products won’t be canon for official Hero Kids stories, so try to return borrowed characters in the condition you found them!

How do I prepare the PDF of my title for sale?

There are many different programs to lay out and prepare your book for digital download. Here are some things to help you make sure your PDF will download properly and look great!

CREATE - If you want to lay out your Digital PDF from scratch...

TUTORIALS - Tutorials for new publishers, to help you use Adobe Acrobat software to make better downloadable PDFs.

QUICK SPECS (PDF) - To get you started.

QUICK CHECK LIST (PDF) - To be sure you don't miss anything.

EPUB & MOBI EXPORT TUTORIAL - FROM INDESIGN (PDF) - To show you how to prepare your InDesign file for export to the ePub format, and how to use Calibre to convert your ePub file to the Mobi format.

EPUB & MOBI EXPORT TUTORIAL - FROM MICROSOFT WORD (PDF) - To show you how to prepare your Microsoft Word file for export to the ePub format, and how to use Calibre to convert your ePub file to the Mobi format.

PREP - You've already created your PDF and just need to see if it is all set to upload.